Taoiseach Leo Varadkar met with Apple executives last week to confirm the future of the development in Athenry.

Apple were given the go-ahead for the project in February 2015, but construction has been delayed due to an ongoing legal case taken by three objectors.

A similar facility in Denmark was approved on the same day, and has now been completed.

Apple has since revealed plans for a second data centre in Denmark.

The Taoiseach confirmed that the government is examining potential changes to the Strategic Infrastructure Act to ensure that our planning and legal system works more efficiently when dealing with applications of this nature.

Earlier:

Update 12.38pm: The government has denied that Apple has threatened to pull out of building its Athenry data centre due to planning delays.

The €850m facility was originally given the go-ahead in February 2015 but has been held up by objections.

It was reported earlier that the tech giant is prepared to walk away if there was no progress soon.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs Ciaran Cannon told Galway Bay FM that Apple has not been in contact with the government:

"It's based on supposed comments from unidentified, unnamed sources," he said.

"Of course I'm calling into question the validity of this report and the validity of the assertion that Apple executives are somehow in contact with the Irish Government - they aren't - and somehow concerned with the ongoing delay I'm sure they are concerned.

"There's no question about that - we're all concerned," he added.

Earlier:There are fears that Apple could pull out of building its data centre in Athenry due to planning delays.

The plans for the €850,000,000 campus were originally revealed in February 2015 but have faced opposition since.

A decision on whether to allow the building to proceed or to refer it back to the planning process is expected within weeks.

According to Bloomberg, Apple executives have told the government that they are prepared to pull out if delays continue.

Exports of goods across the Irish Sea have increased again despite the dampening effects of the slump in sterling since the Brexit vote which ought to have weighed on sales into the UK for firms based in the Republic.